I Can Help You
by Naruhina1888
Summary: Possible ONE-SHOT. AU, Hinata is a deaf-blind 19-year-old and Naruto offers to help her unique impairment. Hinata has never been educated and is extremely difficult to work with. Will Naruto manage to teach her how to communicate? Rated T...for now...
1. Chapter 1

**Can't promise if I'll finish this quickly or...ever becuse I've been so stressed and busy. But anyways, hope you enjoy!**

* * *

He was so nervous. He could feel his heart beat faster and faster as the time ticked. For every sound the clock made, a drop of anxiety slid down his back. His collar began to feel uncomfortably tight and his hands started to run cold. He couldn't think of a single tactic to relieve himself in that moment. Relaxation, confidence, and excitement were nonexistent. Anxiousness was the only thing that held on to him for now.

He had been waiting in a lonesome room for a good two hours. A young lady had come to tell him that his interview had been delayed to 10:30. At the time when the woman had come to apologetically inform him of the inconvenience, it was already 9:45. His initial interview was scheduled to be at 8:30. The thought of his interview not being a priority for the manager was something that utterly frightened him. Perhaps his meeting had been delayed due to the lack of interest of whoever was in charge. He prayed that wasn't the case despite having his insecurities believing it was true.

He was a young man, freshly twenty. Still studying but looking for a job. Apply to this organization may have been a bad idea, it may have been too big of a reach for him. But still, he couldn't help it. He wanted to work here. There was something about this place that made him feel destined. The KII, that's where he wanted to work. Konoha's Institute for the Impaired. He wasn't impaired in an anyway. He had all his five senses intact and was physically and mentally well. So the reason why he wanted to work here was indeed a true mystery. It might have been the feeling of being different or alone that made him feel the need to teach the impaired. But the odd truth was that he really didn't know. He had been studying sign language since high school and now, in just a few minutes, the door beside him would open and someone would escort him to a private interview to see if he qualified to teach the deaf.

It sounded silly when he thought of it that way but it was no lie.

Whatever connection he had with the KII had to be incredibly strong, because for him to straight up apply for a job and not accept an internship was mighty risky.

"Mr. Uzumaki?" a voice softly asked as the door creaked opened. The same nicely dressed woman the man had seen before had appeared again. This time though, she looked a bit more tired than the first.

"Uh yes!" The blond hastily got up and smiled at her. "That's uh me."

The sound of his nervous voice made him cringe. He waited for the woman to say something back but instead she just giggled. Her laughter made him feel even more embarrassed.

"Come with me," the woman smiled as she waved for him to follow her.

"Again, I apologize for the inconvenience. We had uh—a visitor—who was taking up a lot of the faculties time."

The woman then gave a loud sigh of exhaustion. Evident and clear exhaustion. Perhaps she hadn't realized how loud her exhale was, that as soon as her lips made contact again, her eyes widened. She quickly tried to cover it by clearing her throat and giving the blond an awkward smile, but it was far too late to hide anything by the time she decided to take action. Not only that, but she looked so worn out. Unlike the first time Naruto had seen her, one could say she looked like a mess. Her once neatly gelled bun had now become a frizzy and sloppy knot of hair. Flyaways were scattered across the sides of her head and her neatly folded collar was no longer resting correctly on her neck. The poor girl looked like she had gone for a jog, gotten in a fight almost. She didn't look at all professional compared to her first appearance. It wasn't something that bothered Naruto but he knew it greatly bothered her. He could tell by the way she tried to fix her hair as if a thousand eyes were mocking her. The silence between them was also a clear sign of her embarrassment. The sound of her heels touching the white tiled floor was the only noise that echoed down the hall. It was something that gradually became more and more awkward.

"Must've been an incredibly interesting person then," Naruto said trying to create some decent small talk. "Heck, I bet he got the job."

The young girl gave him a weak and fragile smile, a smile that did not express any joy but…perhaps, annoyance. Naruto felt his heart immediately tighten and his face heat up.

How humiliating, he had actually managed to irritate the nice assistant.

"No," the lady shook her head, interrupting his anxiety. "She—it's a girl—wasn't applying for anything…"

A loud sigh suddenly escaped her lips once more as she pulled a strand of dangling hair behind her ear. "She really was…incredibly energetic…if we can even say that."

She rolled her eyes as she recollected the images of the incident. It sort of eased the blond to think that it wasn't him that had gotten her mad but the mysterious visitor's actions. He had just been an unfortunate pawn for her to remember.

"Seems like you got to know her pretty well," the blond awkwardly stated. "Did you like her?"

A giggle flowed across the hall. "Why of course," the girl smiled. "Here at Konoha's Institute for the Impaired, we love _all_ our students! Even those that constantly come in to register but never qualify. Yup! We love all of them!"

The blond sensed a load of sarcasm in her tone but didn't want to take the risk of pointing it out. Whoever the assistant had dealt with had truly been a real trouble and a regular one too.

"We're here!" the girl softly sang as gestured to a large black door. She scrambled through her skirt's pockets to look for the correct key. Out of a billion keys all hooked to a little chain, not one seemed to work. The shackling of the endless metals hitting each other got louder and louder the more frustrated the woman began to get.

"This can't keep!" She harshly whispered. "I just had it!"

Naruto stupidly grabbed the doorknob and shook it as if somehow it would magically open. He felt the need to be useful as he saw her continuous struggle. "Maybe you could use a pin?" The blond asked pointing to a dial pad above the door knob.

"No," the girl shook. "Only the boss knows the passcode to that."

It took approximately three minutes for the two of them to find the correct key. The clicking sound of the door unlocking sounded miraculous to their ears. From what Naruto saw, the room looked massive and very neatly decorated. His heart began to speed up knowing this was the actual room his interview would take place. He turned his head to thank the young lady for her help but he was interrupted by her own words.

 _"They put him with her?"_

Is what she said. But not to him, to herself. It was meant to be a quiet whisper, but unfortunately it was still too audible. There wasn't a smile on her face but an expression of worry. Whoever this "her" was, she must've been notorious for something unpleasant.

"What's wrong?" Naruto asked.

"Nothing. It's just—please, sit here." She gestured to the nearest chair. "The boss will be here shortly."

She waved at the blond goodbye and slowly shut the door. Despite her clam and courteous attitude, her movements seemed rushed. Almost as if she was running away from something, trying to avoid something. It confused the young man greatly. And what also bobbled his head was the absence of the boss. Had she not said someone else was here? He turned his head around the room to see if anyone else was with him. Nothing.

Or so he thought.

A faint sound of a cough suddenly ringed in his ears. It was a feminine cough, a gentle one that seemed to come from the other end of the room. The blond slightly bent his body forward to get a better view of the person waiting with him. It was a girl, a young lady who couldn't possibly be older than him. She actually wasn't that far away from him. She was just really well hidden. There was a large armchair facing the window, which was basically the entire left wall, and the young girl was quietly resting behind it.

The blond had to admit, she was beautiful. Beyond beautiful. Her gentle facial features gave her an angelic glow. She had incredibly long, straight hair that fell all the way down to her hips. Two strands of her lovely mane were neatly braided and tied back with a large laced bow. Her dark black hair complimented her pale skin. It wasn't an unhealthily pale color; it was a nice creamy skin tone that looked very fresh. He couldn't really see the color of her eyes but he imagined they were beautiful as well. For everything he had in front of him was jaw dropping.

But despite the abundance of beauty only a few feet away from the blond, not one had said a word.

The girl never even bothered to look at him. In fact, she hadn't even flinched from the moment he walked in. It was almost as if she was in trance—or—like she couldn't have cared less.

Naruto's heart began to race. Was she the boss?

No, she was too young.

Was she also applying? Perhaps. But she had no reason to ignore him. Maybe it was a thing of competition—who gets the job? Or maybe it was a form of focus. Whatever it was he didn't like it. Such beauty only appeared ever so often. For him to not even try to talk this to gem was something unforgivable and an evident loss. He had to scrap up enough courage to talk to her. At least for a little small talk.

So he did. He cleared his throat, fixed his suit a little, and spoke. "H-Hey," He pathetically said. "Are you getting an interview too?"

He could feel his face freeze up because of his own traitorous nerves. He waited and waited awkwardly for the girl to respond but she didn't. She didn't even turn her head. She just stared attentively at the glass window. The weight of embarrassment on his shoulders made him want to drown. She definitely showed zero interest in him.

"Um I'm kinda nervous for this, "Naruto said, loosening his collar. "And you?"

Again, no response. Still staring at that darn window.

Naruto from there, he knew his place. It was best for him to just shut up instead of looking like a fool…in front of a girl. The air in the room suddenly felt heavily uncomfortable. And Naruto honestly just wanted to storm out. Sure he's gotten rejected before, but this type of rejection was beyond what he ever wanted to bear. It was embarrassing and a huge ego crusher. He wouldn't even want this for any other man.

"When will this interview start?" he asked as he stared at the ceiling.

 _God, at this point I just want to leave._

He sighed and slouched into his chair not knowing what else to do. Waiting and waiting some more for the same goddamn reason as before. The interview. He was so tired of waiting that his butt was starting to hurt.

 _Do I even really want this job? Is it really worth it? I mean, it seems like my future co-workers are a bit on the harsh side._

He was gradually starting to lose interest probably because of all the waiting and of course the rise and fall of his confidence. It was getting late and he had been here practically all morning. It sucked how it didn't go as he wished it would've but what was the point anyway? Chances of him getting the job were lower than the floor he was resting on. A job at a pizza place or local grocery store was much easier to get into. Maybe that's where he should've gone.

 _I think Ichiraku was hiring too last time I checked…_

* * *

"Please, Sir! We beg of you! Please take her in!"

Muffled noises seemed to suddenly vibrate behind the locked door. It got louder and louder the closer is got to the room.

"Please!" a voice begged as the door slammed open. It just about made Naruto jump. "She's capable of learning; I know it!"

"I highly doubt that mam," a large suited man said as he walked in. He was incredibly tall and had long white messily tied back. He stared at the blond as he brushed passed him not knowing exactly what he was doing there. "Did Shiho sent you here?" he asked him. "I told her to send you to the blue room."

"I-I don't know who brought me here," Naruto nervously said getting up. "But I'm here for—"

"She's a good girl! Please Mr. Jiraiya, just give her a chance."

A middle-aged woman along with her husband kept insisting that their daughter was worth being taught. The older woman had long dark hair similar to the young lady who was sitting on the chair, and her husband also had equally long hair tied back. They looked almost identical to the girl who he had tried to talk to but seeing the young woman ignoring the older couple, he figured it was all coincidence. Naruto had no idea what they were talking about. Perhaps, their daughter had gotten suspended or worse, expelled. Through the eyes of a parent, no child of their own could do harm. Maybe they were fighting to keep their daughter in this prestigious institute despite her bad actions. It was all a guess but Naruto couldn't help his curiosity from eavesdropping a little.

"I've given her many chances Mrs. Hyuga but she never seems to qualify," the man argued as he walked behind his large desk. "We can't even control her. You saw it this morning."

"But she's only acting this way because she doesn't know you. You scared her that's all."

The woman quickly made her way to the girl sitting on the chair. And that's when Naruto witnessed something amazing.

The girl was blind…

The girl, the angelic young girl, began to touch her. She tapped and rubbed the woman's arms and hands. And when her hands touched the lady's face, she almost frantically searched for a beauty mark resting on the left side of her cheek. Once she found it her movements began to ease and it seemed like the girl in the chair was no longer afraid. Her gentle hands rubbed the woman's face and hair in a very calm and caressing manner. She recognized her and was happy she was there. But then the young girl's arm stretched out in the air and swarm around randomly as if she was looking for someone else.

"Hiashi," the middle-aged woman said. "She's looking for you."

The man, who Naruto assumed was her husband, came towards the girl and placed one of his hands on her cheek. The brunette then rubbed his hand and analyzed every single joint and wrinkle on it to make sure she knew who it was. A faint smile could be seen on her face and the elderly couple both smiled back.

"See," the older woman said turning her head towards the the large white-haired man. "You just need to be gentle with her."

But the man only sighed in return. He just wasn't buying it. Or more like, he just didn't think it would be possible. "Mrs. Hyuga, when we said we taught the deaf and blind we meant it separately," he stated. "We didn't mean someone who had both impairments. It's simply not in our range of knowledge. We have never taught a deaf-blind person. I need you to understand that."

But the woman did not care. She was reluctant to let her child leave this institute without an enrollment. And Naruto was witnessing it all. He didn't know how to explain the emotions running through his body but he really did feel for the woman. And he also was utterly fascinated by her daughter. No wonder she hadn't bothered to speak to him earlier, she couldn't see or hear him. He had never met a deaf-blind person and he never thought he'd encounter one. This could be his moment to start. This young girl could be his chance to actually teach, to change someone's life. He felt in his heart that it was something he had to do. He couldn't let this woman go with her daughter back home, knowing that her child would never receive an education. It just wasn't right. He had to do something even if it got him in trouble. The young woman had the capacity, he knew she did.

"I-I could teach her," the blond blurted out. "I-I could try."

Both the white-haired man and the mature couple stared back at him. It was almost as if they had forgotten he was there. "You could!" The mother gleamed in joy. She enthusiastically clapped her hands and hugged her husband as they both cheered excitedly. But the manager of the whole institute did not do the same. "Hold on just a second," he paused everyone. "You don't even work here and I barely know anything about you. Surely, you don't have enough experience to change a disability this advanced."

"Well uh I'm not sure if I do. But again, I could try." Naruto crookedly smiled. "I really want this job and I think it's a good opportunity for me to show my skills if I help this young lady."

"That's nice of you but we can't take the risk of some amateur teaching a student _like this…_ " he emphasized as he gestured to the deaf-blind girl. " _Alone_ with no supervision—"

"But she's not a student," Naruto bluntly said. He hadn't realized how rude it sounded until he finally heard himself. He sounded like a child talking back to his parents and that was definitely not his intention. "I-I mean, she's not a student yet," Naruto tried to sweeten. "She's not enrolled. In the meantime, I can try to teach her what I can. And if in the time given she learns something and somehow qualifies to enter the KII, then well you can register her as an official student. If anything happens to her it won't go against the KII, it will go against me."

Jiraiya stood silent. The kid did have a point. But was it safe? Just by looking at the young man Jiraiya knew he couldn't even pass as twenty-five. Two young kids together and one of them being extremely impaired was a mighty risk. But again, it wasn't going under his belt. And not only that, but the blond man did show a lot of interest in helping the girl.

"I'll give you the chance," the man finally said. "But it's up to the girl's parents to decide whether or not she can be taught by you."

The manager turned to look at the aging couple to ensure they're approval but the two blankly stared back. "Is there something wrong with him?" they asked. "Why do we have to make the decision?"

"Well, because he's not a teacher," Jiraiya answered. "He's a student and he doesn't work here. Your daughter would be playing an important role in his future. She'd be playing as a lab rat. If he can teach her how to be…civilized…in the time given, then I'll most likely hire him. But if he doesn't," the man paused. He slightly turned his head to seriously look at the young man. "Then he can forget about this job entirely."

The room suddenly became quiet. The mother of the young girl stared at her husband, and her her husband nervously shrugged back. A couple of whispers sneaked through the two of them and even some disputes. Based on their body language, it seemed that they both couldn't come to an agreement but ultimately the mother won anyways. It looked like her husband was a bit hesitant but not completely against it. Meaning he had faith in Naruto and that made Naruto feel slightly better. Even if their faith combined was the size of a grain of rice, Naruto would gladly accept it. He just needed someone to believe in him before he could continue.

"So have you decided?" Jiraiya asked.

"Well," the woman said with a frown. She slowly lowered head to face the floor. She didn't look too happy which kind of shocked Naruto. He really had thought that out of the two, she was the one who would've immediately taken his offer. But in front of him, she looked very much upset. "I'm sorry but…" she shook her head. "But…of course we'd take the offer! Why would you even bother asking for permission!"

The woman excitedly ran towards the blond and hugged him tightly. "Oh I'm so happy!" she smiled still holding on to him. "I've waited years for someone to giver her a chance."

Naruto warmly smiled backed at her and promised his best efforts. It was heartwarming experience. The parents of the girl were beyond happy and it was all thanks to the generosity of the blond. "Oh please, tell me your name!" the woman said letting go of him. "We will never forget it!"

"Uh my name's Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki," the man humbly said.

"Naruto is it! Well I'm glad your helping my little girl!" The woman said. "Oh! Would you like to meet her!"

She grabbed the blond by the wrist and guided him towards the sitting girl. But just before he could even see her up close, the manager quickly called out to him.

"Before you get too close, I need to talk to you," he told him. "And if you don't mind Mr. and Mrs. Hyuga, I'd like it to be in private."

"Oh, of course," the two said before scurrying off. "We'll just leave Hinata here so he can meet her," the mother said.

As soon as the door shut, the Jiraiya gestured the blond to come forward. He looked very serious but at the same time rather calm. It was quite odd in all honesty. There was something about him that was off.

"You just put yourself in a huge challenge and there's no going back, you here?" The man said as he gathered a couple of papers. "The girl your about to deal with, her name is Hinata Hyuga as her mother said earlier."

 _Hinata Hyuga…_

The blond discreetly took a glance back at the girl. So that was her name. Even though from this point on he would be her teacher, he still couldn't help feel a bit of attraction towards her. It was weird; he was weird, but there was something about her that he really felt was special. And no, it wasn't her impairment. It was something he hadn't yet discovered but felt in his heart was there.

"So how old is she?" Naruto asked.

"She's nineteen," Jiraiya quickly answered. "But you might as well say she's two or three. She doesn't know how to read, write, or speak. And overall, she acts like a complete animal."

An animal? But how? Currently, as they spoke she hadn't even bothered to move a muscle. She was perfectly calm and so tranquil. There was no way she could cause enough trouble to be called an animal. There just wasn't.

"You don't believe me?" Jiraiya smirked as he stared at the confused blond. "Well you're about to see it so don't worry. I'll give you eight months. In eight months you don't manage to teach her anything then you won't get the job. And in reminder, you're not getting paid to do this as it is obvious she's not a student. I will though let you use an open classroom and you both can come regularly as if she was attending a school day. But it's solely up to you to teach her, alright?"

 _Alright…_

But was it really? Was it really alright? For one thing, he wasn't getting paid, which was the whole purpose of why he came here. Secondly, he wasn't even sure if eight months was enough. He was still studying for goodness sakes and the time he was in school and the time she would be in school _with him_ would most likely interfere and create an issue. He still had to do his assignments and he had to find a job ASAP. Eight months seemed like nothing when he added his life into it.

"Can't you extend the time, sir?" Naruto nervously asked. "At least to ten. "It just isn't enough time when you put my personal life into it."

The man thought about it for a moment and glared back at the boy. It couldn't be helped. After all, he was still incredibly young and still in school. An acceptable amount of time was only fair for the two of them. "Fine," he finally said. "I'll give you ten months, a year if you really need it. Is that fair?"

"Yes, absolutely," Naruto nodded.

The two men agreed on ten months and officially sealed it with a handshake. "Now, here's the hard part." Jiraiya suddenly said. He walked around his desk and called for assistance through the intercom resting at the corner of his window sill. "Hinata is not easy to work with. I believe she has quite the temper."

"Really," Naruto smiled as he still was in disbelief. "Well maybe she'll adapt to me."

He walked towards the girl a second time but just like as before, Jiraiya quickly stopped him.

"Hold on, boy. Wait for the others to come."

Naruto didn't understand it. He didn't want to wait for the others. He didn't see the point in doing so. The girl looked fine. All he had to do was be gentle with her just like her mother had said. They were only wasting time and he was growing sick of letting time pass by just sitting there.

* * *

"Sir, you called?"

A group of well-dressed workers including the same lady Naruto had seen minutes ago walked in. They all looked a bit too alert some even looked a little nervous.

"Yes, I need you to keep Hinata still so that this young man can introduce himself," Jiraiya told them.

They all nodded. But it was as if their heads were too heavy for them to make a proper one. Instead, they made a slow, weak nod. They approached the girl slowly and they each silently communicated with each other with small gestures and stares. The moment the first brave Samaritan touched the girl, the whole scene suddenly changed. It started with a quiet touch. A middle-aged professor touched her shoulder, she touched his hand to find out who it was. The moment she didn't recognize him everything went crazy; _she_ went crazy. She yanked his hand away from her and quickly got up. She pushed the chair she was sitting on directly at someone and ran towards the far corner of the room. Again, this girl was blind and deaf. She had no idea where she was or what was going on. She frantically waved her arms up and down and she pushed and threw everything that wasn't stable in her way. Books fell from shelves, glass shattered, and she didn't even have a clue.

"Stop her!" Jiraiya exclaimed. "Don't let her break anything else."

And the group of workers worriedly rushed towards the girl. They all swarmed her and It was obvious she didn't like it. She yelled, pushed, pulled hair, and even bit. This one teacher tried to calm her down by caressing her hair but Hinata just wasn't having it. She harshly pushed the woman's face and slapped everyone who got any closer to her. She kicked shins and pulled away from peoples' grasp. They all were running out of breath, even including Hinata.

"Calm down! Calm down!" They all yelled as if she could hear them. "Just sit still so the boy can meet you!"

Everyone in the room gave Naruto a quick unhappy glare. It was suddenly his fault for Hinata's behavior. He wasn't even the one who agreed to bring all these people in here in the first place. He didn't even know she was going to act this way. For him to get cold glares was just utterly unjustified.

Everyone ran around the room like buffoons, chasing after the young girl who kept crashing into things and breaking them. Every time she stopped running they'd crowd after her and grab her by the waist and wrists to try to sit her down. But she was reluctant just like her mother and would put up a massive fight. Naruto couldn't blame her though. Who wouldn't be frightened? She had no idea what the heck was going on and suddenly all these people were forcibly restraining her down. Naruto couldn't even say a "normal" person wouldn't be afraid because he sure as hell would. He could only imagine that scenario happening to him. To hell he would be afraid too.

"I think you're scaring her," Naruto told them in effort to get them to stop. "If you crowd her like that she won't have time to recognize you."

"She doesn't know who we are so she won't recognize us either way," a woman sassed back.

"But you can introduce yourselves. What you're doing now is only scaring her. Just—Just stop moving for a second."

Everyone in the room once again hated the blond even more. If it wasn't for the manager's approval, they all would've just continued chasing after the brunette.

When everybody stopped moving and just observed the girl, Hinata began to settle down as well. She stopped in alertness and swarmed her arms around slowly making sure, in her head, that everyone was gone. As soon as she felt satisfied, she fell to the floor. She returned to the calm state Naruto had first seen her in. But this time unfortunately she looked like an utter mess. Her neatly brushed and braided hair was now all over the place and her dress was a wrinkled up horror. Naruto felt bad for the girl, she didn't want any of this to happen.

He stared at the bow resting inches away from his foot. That bow belonged to her. And suddenly, it clicked.

He grabbed the lace bow and walk towards the girl. He kneeled in front of her and waited for the right moment to touch her. This was the first time he had ever been this close to her and truly the view was amazing. She had no clear pupils because of her blindness. But her eyes were a beautiful lavender. Her face looked so pure that it made his heart skip a beat. The girl was blind meaning she couldn't even see him, but Naruto's heart was beating so fast anyway.

Stunning, she was truly stunning even when she was a mess.

He slowly approached her hand and carefully held onto her bow. The minute his left arm touched her wrist, she flinched. And just like before, she quickly pushed his hand away and moved back.

"It's okay," Naruto said to himself. "It's okay."

He reached out to her again and carefully grabbed her hand. She tried to fight him off but he quickly got closer and put her bow in her hand.

"Bow," he whispered as he rubbed the accessory in her hand. He slowly scraped the pink fabric on her finger tips and palm so she would clearly remember it. He figured it worked because for the longest ten seconds she stood silent. She didn't move but her face seemed very focus in that short moment. She didn't fight him; she didn't scream, she just recollected. And when she remembered, she clutched onto it harshly and tried to pull it away from him.

"Wait, wait," Naruto said trying to grasp onto it. "Bow…" He said tapping the object in her hand. He gently pushed that same hand towards her chest. "Yours…" He whispered tapping the hand under her collarbone. "Your bow."

He poked her shoulder and then the bow again so she could clearly understand it was hers.

 _It's_ _your_ bow…

He then pulled her hand towards his chest and let it rest there. "Me…" he said making her hand tap his chest. He guided her hand to her own chest again as gently as possible. "…to you."

 _I'm giving it to you…_

He grabbed the girl's hand and made her poke the bow, then his chest, then her chest. He did this six times so she would understand he was giving it back. She was very tranquil throughout all of it. She let him take control of her movements without a fit and carefully seemed to pay attention. When he finally let go of her hand, she didn't run away. Instead, she repeated his same movements.

 _Me…you…bow… Me…you…bow…_

When she stopped she grabbed his hand and traced her fingers all over it. She ran her fingers down his wrist and arm. She touched and grabbed his forearm in order to remember him. She had no interest in getting an idea of what he looked liked, for she never bothered to touch his face. But what she did do was let him touch her hand in order for _him_ to remember her. This was a huge sign of trust and everyone in the room slightly gasped.

Her hand and wrist were a lot smaller than his and a lot smoother. Naruto smiled at the fact that she was actually trusting him. He wanted her to know he was happy but he didn't know how. Hugging her would be too much and everything above that seemed worse. He had to think of something quick and the only thing that came to mind was a nod. A simple nod with a smile.

He grabbed her hand and placed it on his cheek. From there, he began to nod. Her curious fingers rubbed the muscles on his cheeks that created his smile and then her index and middle finger traced the curve of his smiling lips. She focused on his facial expression and then his movement in order to create an image in her head. When she realized he was happy…she smirked back. And from there everybody knew, this young man, could actually help the infamous Hinata Hyuga. Behind the whole crowd of people surrounding the two, stood Jiraiya. He too had a smile on his face and was equally surprised as everybody else. Quietly, on a piece of paper he wrote, _"Day one: Naruto and Hinata meet each other…"_

Only the future knew what was in store for all of them from that point. Either this would be the biggest success for Naruto or his greatest failure. He didn't know but he had faith he would help this girl. And wouldn't stop until _she_ was happy.


	2. Chapter 2

The sun had fallen and the moon began to illuminate its dim light across the village. The night's presence made Naruto feel even more exhausted than he actually was. Today had been a rough day, a long day, and he couldn't imagine repeating it again. He was so tired he could barely walk straight. He couldn't' wait to get back home and just rest. He wanted sleep; he wanted a deep sleep. But despite this, he knew he had one last place to go before he went home. It was essential and no matter the price, he knew he had to go. His stomach hadn't been fed since the moment he woke up. So Basically, he hadn't eaten the whole day today. He could hear the cries of hunger rumbling past his clothes. Yea, he was definitely hungry. And he wasn't just going to ignore it till the next sunrise. Who could possibly go to bed with an empty stomach? Definitely not him. He had to run to the nearest restaurant—No, his stomach was far too picky for that—he had to go to Ichiraku Ramen. Not only that, but he had to get some things off his mind.

One of his closest friends worked their as a server and he couldn't think of a better person to talk to besides her. With a large bowl of Ramen and a chat with a friend, he knew he could clear things up. What he was thinking, what he wanted to do, he couldn't really distinguish whether it was right or wrong. He needed to hear someone else's opinion before jumping into action. That's why he needed to go see his friend and get that delicious serving of Ramen.

So he walked. He walked hungrily all the way to the small restaurant only a few blocks away from his apartment but decades away from the KII. His feet felt sore by the time he finally sat down on one of the stools. He sighed when his elbows touched the wooden table and lazily reached for a menu even though he knew he wouldn't be using it.

"Say, I'm surprised you stopped by at this hour," A voice called out from the small kitchen. It was an elderly man, probably around his early 50s. Naruto knew that man all to well—very well. He was his savior; the man who cooked his holy meal every single day. His name was Teuchi. Teuchi was a joyful man Naruto would regularly visit. Naruto was his loyal customer. He never missed a single day of Ichiracku ramen bowls. One could say they had a close bond. That is, customer to chef.

"Didn't see you this morning or afternoon. Thought it was awfully strange that you didn't come today," the man continued.

"Well, I'm here now," Naruto smiled back. "I just had a real busy day because of this job I was applying too."

"Oh, is that so!" The man's eye's widened. "And did you get?"

"Well," Naruto nervously shrugged. "Not exactly. To be honest I don't really know what happened."

He slightly lowered his head in embarrassment. He really hadn't gotten the job. And if he thought really hard, he could even say they just took advantage of him. They saw he wasn't good enough, and just threw him another person they also thought wasn't good enough so they could somehow work together. That's what really happened. They gave him eight months to teach a deaf-blind girl _in order_ to see if he qualified for the job. When he thoroughly analyzed it, he saw how outright ridiculous it was. He fell for it in his own stupid obliviousness but for some reason he didn't feel down. Remembering that young girl and the satisfying feeling of her understanding him despite her disabilities was something he couldn't sulk about. Sure, he wasn't getting paid, and the loads of hard work she would give him as of tomorrow may be extensive, but the feeling of just abandoning her like the thousands of other teachers and institutes had done was just wrong. He was going to help her no matter what the heavy struggles were.

"See your quite down about it," Teuchi interrupted the blonde's thoughts. "How bout I serve you a bowl to get your mind off it."

"Oh no, it's not like that," Naruto chuckled. "I'm alright about it actually. But setting that aside, I still need that bowl," Naruto said tapping on his stomach. "I haven't eaten all day."

The older man laughed in return and got right into his order. As soon as he turned to head back to the kitchen, a young woman emerged with a towel in her hand. She had pink, short hair, green eyes, and was rather short and slim. She waved at the blond when she saw him and gave him an odd look as she got closer to the table.

"Where were you the whole day?" She asked as she wiped the table he was sitting in. "This is like your second home; you always come here."

"Yea, I know I do," the blond nodded. "But don't you remember, I had a job interview today."

The girl furrowed her eyebrows in confusion and crossed her arms sassily. "Job interviews don't take that long. I would know," she said discreetly pointing at her manager. "it didn't take me that long to get this job."

"Well that's because it's different, Sakura," Naruto corrected her. "This is a food place. You don't need academic experience or a degree in anything to get hired here. Where I went there was a shit ton of professional vibes and I felt so out of place. I was really nervous and the manager took forever and a decade to see me."

"And did you get it?" The girl asked.

"No. But I didn't leave empty-handed—definitely not," he breathily laughed. "That's why I really wanted to talk to you. What they gave me is something really worth discussing."

"And what is that?" the girl asked curiously. She made her way to the other side of the table to sit next to him and attentively began to listen. "Big loads of cash you planning to share with me?"

"No," Naruto chuckled. But then that laugh slowly faded as he tried to find the words to describe what exactly he had been assigned. "I was left with a test. The company assigned me this person. If I can teach this person good communication skills in eight months, I will get the job."

"That sounds horrible," Sakura bluntly told him.

"Why?"

"Well you're obviously not getting paid to do this since its a so called _test_ to get the job. Not only that, but you also have the burden of teaching a kid I bet you didn't have choice to pick. And knowing corruption pretty well, I bet they gave you the weakest, most difficult student."

Naruto didn't say anything. She was in some way right. They did basically give him the hardest student they couldn't even manage to educate. It sounded like incredibly bad luck the way Sakura put it. It sounded like incredibly bad luck that was bound to be a failure no matter what Naruto did. But he refused to see it that way. Again, he had faith he could help this girl.

"So who did they give you?" Sakura asked with a smirk.

"A girl," Naruto answered. "She's only a year younger than me and she's—"

"Oooo, a girl!" Sakura clapped excitedly. "Bout time you find yourself one. Who knows maybe she's your type."

"Yea," Naruto nervously laughed. "But anyways, she's deaf…"

"Yea."

"…And blind…"

Silence. Sakura blankly stared back at Naruto as she slowly tried to understand his words. She looked shocked and a bit…confused? Naruto really couldn't read her face in that moment but he could tell it wasn't anything overly positive.

"She's what?!" Sakura suddenly raised. "How does she even know you're there?! I mean, is that even possible?"

"It's not like she's dead, Sakura," Naruto laughed. "She can feel and smell, And I mean, I guess she can taste things too if she wants too."

"But wouldn't that kind of impairment be impossible to teach? How will she know what you're telling her if she can't hear or see?"

"Well, I'd have to use the best of her other senses. For right now, I think her strongest sense is touch and I really think I can use that to help her."

"But how?"

"Well, with sign language." Naruto said as he translated his small sentence with his hands.

"But don't you need to see that to understand what it means?"

"Well no, not really."

He slowly grabbed Sakura's hand and opened it up so that her palm would be facing upward. "I'd be putting the sign on the palm of her hand so that she can feel it and picture it."

"But—"

"Here, let me show," Naruto quickly interrupted her seeing her confusion. He searched for a small object and quickly settled with a napkin. "See this napkin?" He said waving it around.

"Yea, but she won't."

"Well, I'd put it in the palm of her hand so that she could feel it." Naruto showed her as he rubbed the piece of paper in her hand. "Then, in this case, the sign for napkin is expressed on your face." He said as he wiped the two corners of his mouth. " _Napkin_. So I'd have to make her feel _me_ sign napkin on my face, then help her do it on her face and it would just be a cycle until she gets it."

"But that seems like it would take forever," Sakura rolled her eyes.

"It might. But I wouldn't know if I haven't even tried yet," Naruto smiled back.

"I know in my heart I wouldn't have the patience for that," Sakura admitted. "But you might."

She quickly went to go get his order when she heard Teuchi's voice call out the number. When she came back, she calmly sat next to him as she continued to feel intrigued by his new mission.

"So, what do you think of the girl. Is she difficult? Sweet? How is she?"

"She's very docile once you get on her good side but when you first meet her she's kind of…uncontrollable," he said as he gulped and chewed his way into the abundance of ramen in front of him.

"So she's crazy?"

"No," he slurped as he shook his head. "She's nice. I like her."

"Oh really? Is that why you took the deal with no pay? Because you _liked_ her," Sakura teased as she softly punched his shoulder.

"No, it's not like that," Naruto smirked. "I did it because no one believed in her and I just thought I could be the first one to actually give her a chance."

Sakura wasn't surprised. Naruto had always been a man who really wanted to help others and really hated the idea of excluding people for whatever reason. He was a guy who had gone through that endlessly and was a guy who swore he would never do the same to anyone else. People weren't fond of him when he was little, and those same people barely even knew him well enough to dislike him. But they did anyways. And the neglect he had to face because of them was unforgivable. And yet, he still forgave them. He was a good man. And for him to be willing to help a disabled girl with no cost was an evident good act that just suited him.

"You were always a kind guy," Sakura softly said as she remembered all his actions in a gaze. "You never really knew when to stop."

"Yea," Naruto suddenly said as he put down his chopsticks. He quietly set his bowl aside and slowly turned his head to face his friend. "You're right about that. How I never know when to stop," he seriously told her. "That's why I wanted to ask you something. I know what I'm doing is right and I won't let anyone tell me otherwise. But there's something I want to do that I'm not sure if it's—y'know—okay."

He turned his gaze to the wooden table and nervously tapped his fingers. He didn't know how to put it. In what way could he twist his words to make it sound less creepy? What he had in mind wasn't something easily adjustable or common. And knowing Sakura, she would definitely cause a scene.

"You're not sure if what?" She asked him as her curiosity rose again.

"Um well," He nervously smiled as he scratched the back of his head. "The girl's deaf and blind which makes the teaching process a lot more difficult and y'know I'm technically not even a real teacher yet and on top of that I still have to go to my regular classes at the university and—oh! I basically don't even have a job either! So when you put that all together, my time is really short in actually helping her—but I don't want to let her down—so-"

The blond was just rambling. Nervously rambling about nothing. He didn't know how to express what he truly wanted to say. It wasn't even that big of a deal, yet his words were betraying him one after the other.

"Naruto, just say it!" Sakura rolled her eyes. "You don't have to tell me everything I already know. What is that you want to do?"

"I uh…"

He paused and exhaled in that same moment. "…I want her to live with me."

 _Live with you?_

Well that was just outright insane and beyond eerie. How could they possibly live under the same roof? They hardly even knew each other and there wasn't even an ideal reason to do so. Sakura knew Naruto wasn't a man with bad intentions, but still she couldn't help to feel a little off about it.

"Naruto, you can't make her live with you. I mean, I bet she has parents doesn't she? They won't approve of that. You're a boy and she's a girl and you hardly even know each other to begin with."

"But it's not like I'm gonna do anything bad to her. It's just a student-teacher thing," the blond tried to explain.

"Students don't live with their teachers."

"Yea, I know. What I mean is, I don't have time to walk to her house—wherever that is—go to my school, go to work, do my assignments every single day. I just don't. I won't have enough time to teach her anything that way. But if she lives with me, I'll see her every day and every minute would count. I wouldn't have to waste an hour walking to and from each place. Heck, I could even use breakfast as a teaching lesson."

She knew he had a point. But again, it all fell back to two things: the girl's parents and whether it was absolutely necessary. He needed the parents' approval before he did anything. And assuming what kind of parents they were, it wouldn't be something they could easily say yes to.

"I get what you're saying and If I had the choice, I'd say it's fine because I know what kind of guy you are. But the parents? The girl? They don't know you. "

"So I'll call them first thing tomorrow. I could meet up with them and we could personally talk about it. The thing is, I really need to do this."

"And I get it." Sakura nodded. "It's just—be careful how you say it. If you're going to tell them tomorrow be very careful how you say it. Tell them why you want to do it as clearly as possible so they won't get any ideas."

"I will," the blond nodded. "I really doubt I could fail at that."

"You better not," Sakura warned him as she pointed a finger at him. After that, the tension eased. Sakura rested her head in her hand as she thought of what was to come for him. She imagined a tired Naruto with little sleep but nonetheless very passionate. She also imagined a really close bond between the anonymous girl and him. She didn't know why but, although it was a joke, she imagined some sort of love spark between them. It was silly and really far-fetched. She laughed at it discreetly. Perhaps it was just the girly side of her that liked to fantasize these perfect love stories. She knew it was obviously never going to happen. How could a blind girl ever be aware of the attractiveness of a person? How can a deaf girl ever feel her hearthrob by soothing and beautiful words? They couldn't. That's what she believed. And a girl who carried both impairments would probably never get to feel the bliss of any romance. She only hoped that Naruto could help the girl because it was his biggest determination. She also hoped to someday see it with her own eyes, see him communicate with her. It would be an amazing scene, she knew it. And she crossed her fingers that she would never witness it in a dream but in reality.

"Will I ever get to meet her too?" Sakura suddenly asked as she picked up Naruto's empty bowl and took it to the sink.

"Umm," Naruto said wiping his mouth with a napkin. "Sure, I guess. As soon as I get her to trust me."

"It would be nice if you did. It would be interesting to meet her," Sakura smiled. "I just hope she likes me"

"Same. I hope she likes me too."

They both laughed at the thought of worrying over the anonymous girl. It was a bit ironic.

Their hardest task—well— _Naruto's_ hardest was to impress a girl who was both blind and deaf. She had the final say whether she liked him or not and yet, she couldn't even speak either.

"I better go," Naruto yawned. "It's late but it's not too late to give the parents a call, right?"

The pinkette turned her head to the nearest clock and stared at it for a minute. It was 10:35. Not early but not too late. It was the time of hour where you were either on the verge of going to sleep or possibly fast of sleep. She crossed her arms in debate and slightly shrugged her shoulder. Should he call these people at this hour?

"Well," Sakura sighed. "It's a bit late for an older person. So maybe you shouldn't."

The blond nodded as he slowly got up. He yawned a second time as he stretched his arms out. He felt the wave of exhaustion rush to his body after that big meal and he could already picture himself lying on the bed snoring. To him it was a beautiful sight.

He waved to his pink hair friend goodbye and paid for his bowls. But he didn't leave without receiving a complaint. He could hear the roaring rants of his friend urging him to tip her. But like friends and what they're for, he easily ignored her, and her voice became a faint echo in the background as he left the restaurant.

* * *

It took him about ten minutes to get back home. Though Naruto felt like the time was much longer because of his exhaustion. The creaking sound of his rusting, apartment door was the clear sign he was finally home. He lazily took off his shoes and gradually slouched his way to the nearest couch. He threw his whole body on top of the worn out, green sofa not caring if not would hurt him. He wanted to sleep really badly but a sudden thought cut it off.

Out of nowhere, he began to remember the girl's face, the deaf-blind girl. He remembered her fair skin, beautiful face, the unique color of her eyes, and the fascination that glowed on her when she was touching his face. He tried to shake the thoughts out of his head for she would be his student as of tomorrow. But for some reason, his heart sped up when he thought of her. It could have been excitement or maybe worry. But all he knew was that his heart was feeling extremities for her and there was no way he could deny it. He thought and thought about what he would teach her, how he would teach her, and whether or not it would work…in eight months. It was one worry after the other until eventually his tired body could take no more. He drifted into a deep sleep eventually and even in his dreams he thought of what was to come.

He woke up the next morning feeling fine but that all abruptly changed as he remembered to call the young girl's parents. He hastily got up out of bed and rushed to the coat he was wearing yesterday. In one of those pockets, a small slip of paper rested with their contact info. He remembered their happy faces as they slipped the piece of paper in his jacket. By this time, they had to be awake. It was already past ten and there was no way they could sleep in with a daughter with the type of disability Hinata—the girl—had.

He looked through his left pocket and then his right until he heard a muffled noise of crumbled paper. He quickly pulled the slip out of his coat and ran to the nearest phone. The paper couldn't have been any bigger than the one's that appear in a fortune cookie. The writing was a bit smudged for whatever reason and there didn't seem to be a single phone number written on it.

"Don't they have a house phone?" Naruto said to himself as he searched the front and back of the paper. All it had was an address, an address located near the far farmlands where people usually sold and bought organic crops. There was no way he would go there by foot. He really didn't want to. But as he stared and stared at the paper, it looked like it was his only choice. He rolled his head around in annoyance. He really _really_ didn't want to walk all the way to the plains of Konoha. Again, it was so far away and in the middle of nowhere. He probably wouldn't even remember how to get back. He tried to search for a way to get there that wasn't by foot. He didn't drive and none of his friends did either. A carriage was too old fashioned and he was certain buses didn't drive all the way there. He looked around the mess of his apartment and spotted an unused bike.

A bike? Did he have to go by bike? That seemed like walking with double the workout. But what other choice did he really have? None. All he needed to do was dress in fresh clothes and move onward. Today was the day he had to see them. There was no escaping it. He needed the girl to live with him as soon as possible and he prayed her parents would approve. Time would be wasted if he didn't go today and time would be severely wasted if the girl's parents said no.

"Well fuck," he shrugged as he unbuttoned the shirt he wore yesterday and slept through the night with. "Let's ride a bike."

He quickly ran to his room to go change into something light but still appropriate looking. Once that was done he made his way to the hoarding mess that his bike had been buried in. He needed the strength of a thousand men to take that darn bike out, but somehow he managed. He pushed the black bike all the way out of his apartment and down the stairs until he could safely ride it.

At first he looked like a total fool. He couldn't remember how to ride a bike. And every time his feet weren't touching the ground, he felt like he was going to fall. It was funny to watch at a distance, and he could've sworn he heard a few chuckles, but to him, it was a total frustration and embarrassment. Eventually, he got the gist of it and zoomed down the dirt roads.

It took him forever to make it to the plains but once he was there he really couldn't complain. He was in awe. It was a beautiful sight to pass by. The day was wonderful; the fresh breeze and warm weather felt nice. The shadows of the Bamboo trees playing around with sunlight was a nice mix as the blond traveled the path. He could see farmers working in their fields and children playing in small meadows. It felt cozy to see such happiness in such an isolated place. It was kind of funny. In the cities and towns where everyone was clumped together, you could find more solitude than anywhere else. Whereas here, houses were nearly miles apart but yet still people were nice and helped each other.

He made it to his designation faster than he had anticipated. It was a small simple house. It was kind of like the house one would call a cottage, but only this one was evidently made by a poor, humble laborer. It was small and it looked rather fragile. It was made by fresh wood nailed at every inch, a couple of sturdy logs, and lots and lots of bricks. So basically, it was Frankenstein version of a house but yet it was very pleasing to look at it. Naruto got his bike and rested it next to a tree. He hoped they were home because he would surely lose his mind if he came all the way here for nothing. He quietly knocked on the front door twice…then a third time, then a fourth. But he still didn't receive a response. It wasn't until he stood there for the next four minutes that someone finally opened the door.

It was the same elderly woman he has seen yesterday. She had her hair braided and frizzed up, and she smelled like fresh bread. When she saw the blond her eyes quickly widened.

"Oh, I knew someone was knocking on the door!" She shouted to the back of the house. "Hiashi, you're not the one who's deaf in this family! How could you ignore this poor man?!"

She turned her head at Naruto again and gestured him to come in. "Oh, I'm so sorry!" She apologized as she scurried off to serve him some tea. "My husband was outside and I was cooking. We never get any visitors so my husband told me to ignore the knocking. The fool said it was a woodpecker."

She told him to sit down as he served him some tea and then she hurried off to call her husband in. During that time, Naruto took the moment to look at the interior of the house. They were poor, indeed. But the house was nonetheless pretty. It was very small. Kitchen and dining room were in the same place and rooms were down a small hallway. There were no bathrooms and no living room. Naruto just assumed they went outside to do their business.

"Here we are again!" The lady waved. "We're here!"

She sat with her husband in front of Naruto and greeted him kindly. Her husband was wearing a straw hat and was carrying a heavy tan on him compared to yesterday. He was soaked in sweat and was wearing ragged farming clothes that were covered in dirt.

"So," the tired man asked. "You're here to teach Hinata? That's earlier than we expected."

The blond nervously smiled back at the man as he suddenly became hesitant. "Well uh no," he cleared his throat. "I came to ask for a favor."

He nervously stared at the wooden table trying to avoid eye contact. How could he say this? How could he say this?! He had only met the girl yesterday and he was already asking for her to live with him. It even sounded bizarre in his head. "First! Let me tell you something about me," Naruto exclaimed. "I'm not a teacher," He admitted. "But I've been studying sign language for a really long time. I'm a student and I go to school four days a week and depending on the day, I'm in the university for a really long time. I currently don't have job but I'm in the process of getting one and well, I'm pretty busy with my studies."

He continued on with basically his entire life story as of now. And as he kept rambling, the more it sounded like he couldn't teach the young girl. It was not his objective. But again, his nerves were betraying him. "Hold on, boy," Hiashi interrupted him. "Are you saying you can't teach Hinata?"

"N-No!" Naruto shook. "What I'm saying is—I'm far too busy to come here every day to see Hinata-"

"Then we'll bring her there," the woman suggested.

"No, that would be too much of a burden for you. Besides, I figure you two have to work, don't you?"

"Yes but—then what do you want? You can't come here and you don't want us to come over there? Seems like it's impossible."

Put it wasn't impossible and secretly the trio know that. The sudden awkwardness made it all the more overwhelming for Naruto to suggest his idea. He didn't want to scare them and he didn't want to come out as a creepy man. At this point, it was all a matter of luck.

"I want her—Hinata—to live with me. That is, if it's okay with you." He told them.

The words felt heavy as he said them to the couple. It felt like a large weight had been taken out of him through his lips. And just the like last time, no one said a word. The couple looked at each other and then blankly stared back at Naruto. "But you're a boy," the father said. "And she's a gir—"

"Don't worry about that!" Naruto told him. "I wouldn't do anything bad to her. I'm a good man; I swear."

"And we're not saying you're not," the woman said. "It's just—we don't know you that well, you don't know her that well, and we'd be taking such a risk."

" _I_ am taking a big risk," Naruto said patting his chest. "By asking you this _and_ by teaching your daughter in a span of eight months, that to me is a huge risk. The only reason I'm asking such a favor is because I feel I won't be able to successfully teach her anything with such little time. If she stays with me, I can make every second count I promise."

The couple sat in thought. He had a point, they just were hesitant to comply with it. If they gave their daughter to him, he would solely be responsible for her health and well-being. And knowing Hinata, she was very difficult to work with. They feared something bad would happen to her because of her own reluctance.

"Well," the mother sighed. "It's not easy to work with but we could do it."

Over a bit of a discussion, the mother and the father of the girl sorted things out until they fell into an agreement. At first, the father was the one who refused to let go of his daughter to some stranger, but over endless convincing by his wife, he forced himself to agree. They were still nervous about it but they had faith things would go well. Their daughter's future was more important than their wants and that was the total truth.

"We earn less than a poor city man. We don't want our daughter to do the same. So we entrust her with you. We will bring her to you when she's asleep."They gave him a worn out piece of paper to write his address and with a weak smile, they both nodded as he returned the paper. He could see the mild worry in their face but also the taint of hope. And for the little positivity he saw in them, he swore to himself that he would try his best.

"Thank you, mam, sir," he softly told them. "I promise I won't let you down."

And he really did mean that.

 _I promise…_

* * *

When the sun was gone, Naruto's heart was beating fast. Time was ticking fast and he knew the Hyuga's were on their way. He hoped they were safe and he hoped the girl was calm enough to get here. He had been a nervous wreck since he returned home. He was overjoyed by receiving the parent's approval, but the moment he walked into his apartment, he realized what a mess it was. He couldn't have a guest living in this mess, especially a girl like Hinata. It was a hazardous zone for her. She could practically trip and die over anything. Junk food, instant Ramen, clothes, anything anyone could imagine was scattered all over his apartment. Naruto didn't live with anyone, he had no girlfriend, keeping things clean wasn't his priority. So the moment he stepped foot home, he started to tidy up like a mad man. He left everything spotless and for some messes, he just kind of hid.

By around 11:35, a silent knock hit his door. With no hesitation, Naruto quickly let the anticipated strangers in. They were covered with heavy jackets and the man he had seen earlier, Hiashi, held his sleeping daughter in his arms. She was wrapped like a baby, a large baby. All you could see of her was her long, flowing hair. The mother of the girl was carrying two heavy bags and what appeared to be a basket. Naruto being the gentleman that he was, quickly helped them settle down. He took their bags and placed it on his small dining table. As for the sleeping girl, they all laid her down on the couch. Naruto offered them the little food he had in the fridge but the couple humbly denied it. The woman held up her basket and placed it on the kitchen counter. She waved for the blonde to come over and as soon as he did, she uncovered the basket.

"Here are some things I made for you two to eat," She smiled at him.

Inside the basket were fresh bread, a couple of baked sweets, rice, beans, salads all in little jars, and other delicious things Naruto couldn't even name. "I know you most likely don't know how to cook," the lady whispered. "So I prepared all this food to last you a good month. Please eat it and _please_ make my daughter eat even if she's not in the mood."

She then took Naruto by the hand and guided him towards the large suitcases that rested on the table. "Now," she said placing her hands on one of the black bags. "I don't know how you will do this, but in this bag are all Hinata's clothes and y'know…what women wear _under_ their clothes."

She placed her hand on the other bag and tapped it, "This bag is just personal things and essentials she really likes and uses. Don't worry they're not that important. But she might look for them."

The blond quickly nodded when he saw her stare reach his eyes. He hadn't realized how much stuff one girl could carry. And he also hadn't realized the issue with the clothing. It completely slipped his mind that Hinata required help even when she had to change. He would have to be that help. And in all honesty, he simply wasn't ready to see a woman naked. Somehow he felt it was wrong for him to do that to Hinata and struggled to think of a way to avoid her undressing.

"Young man…"

The two parents suddenly got closer to him. The father resting his arm around his wife and the wife holding onto his hand.

They looked exhausted but above all very uneasy. "Again, I don't know how you will do this," the mother repeated. "Hinata is a huge responsibility. Not to mention she's a girl. Everything anything every other girl goes through, she does as well. When she gets her period, I don't how your going to do it but she's going to need some pads. Changing her clothes, brushing her hair, teeth, feeding her, showers, you are in charge of all of that. Her life is in your hands," She told him. Her face suddenly became very serious and her calm aura quickly faded. She placed a finger on his chested and pressed it roughly against him. She wasn't joking around, not at all. "But to God," she shakily whispered. "You harm my daughter in any way and I promise you'll be a dead man."

Naruto, at of all things he could've done, laughed. It came of rather shocking to the couple, but Naruto assured them it wasn't anything wrong. He would never intend to hurt anyone ever and Hinata was no exception. He was a man with morals and respect. Never in his right mind or drunk mind, would he ever touch a woman in a way she wasn't okay with.

"I promise you I won't hurt your daughter," Naruto told them. "I'm not that kind of guy. I swear." He cut off his sentence as he stared at the couple attentively. "But will your daughter hurt me?" he smirked. "That's the real question. Your daughter is stronger than you think. She throws chairs, maybe even people. It's possible I could end up in the hospital, not her."

Both the mother and the father laughed. As dark the humor was it was true. Hinata was something else. Vicious little girl since birth. Knowing the girl, for the first few weeks, Naruto was bound to struggle. There was no avoiding the hardships she brought. Not even her parents, who have had her since birth.

"She might," the girl's father nodded. "In all honesty she might, but I pray you'll have patience with her. She's a wonderful girl with a kind heart. You just need to give her some time."

"And I will, sir," Naruto nodded.

The trio then discussed with each other about things Naruto could and couldn't do.

"You can't sleep in the same bed," they told him. "Not even in the same bedroom."

"Find a woman to wash her," the father suggested. "I don't want your hands on my daughter like that. It's nothing against you but—you're a young man."

"She must come visit us at least once a week," the mother said clapping her gloves to together. "And you must accompany her."

"No sex."

"No smoking."

"And don't ever strike her."

These were the things they told him. They were pretty basic rules. Rules that were just common sense with morality. Naruto agreed to follow them all and he really doubted there would ever come a day where he'd break them. He looked at the girl and then her parents. No way in hell would her ever take advantage of such a humble family.

"I promise not to do any of things you told me not too. Cross my heart." "And I promise to treat her well and bring her to you once a week."

Naruto held out his hand for a shake and nodded when he received it.

 _I will not let you down…_

The couple after hours of gained trust finally decided to leave her daughter with him. It wasn't easy. The blonde saw it. The tears sliding down their faces was a sign of huge commitment and trust. He didn't like to see it at all. He wanted them to have faith in him but he knew it wasn't anything simple.

"I leave Hinata in your hands," they finally said. "Please take care of her."

And with that, they were gone. And from that moment, Naruto was alone with a girl whose life now depended on him. He prayed all would go well, that he wouldn't fail, and that she would come to like him. And he prayed one last thing. One last odd thing…

"Please don't make me fall in love with her."


	3. Chapter 3

**I don't own Naruto. Fanfiction is being SOO difficult.**

* * *

The following morning was accompanied by a wonderful disaster. Loud crashes and unhappy cries echoed up and down the hall as the sun slowly began to rise. Naruto abruptly woke up by the sound of an entire book shelf being swept clean of all items. He quickly jumped out of his bed and struggled to get himself dressed as he tripped and fell over various things scattered around his bedroom. His mind was still a blur but his heart was pumping blood faster than his brain could keep up with. His fight or flight instinct had him on the edge, but his muffled conscious had him somewhat aware of reality.

It was still somewhat dark; the sun was barely even noticeable yet. One could've easily mistaken this dawn as dusk and continued to sleep. But as for Naruto, he could not commit that mistake. He continued to hear these frustrated moans rampage around his house. He knew who it was coming from, and he knew the chaos that followed her cries. As he walked toward the door and placed his hand on the golden door knob, he began to fear what was behind it.

 _Hinata…_

If she had been trashing his place for hours now, who knew if he could still even call it an apartment anymore. As he twisted the door knob his main priority became the girl. He walked slowly down the hall taking in the mess of shattered glass and random items laying around. It wasn't until he reached his living room when his mouth completely dropped. He couldn't even call it a living room anymore. It was just an entire mess.

Papers and books were scattered _all_ over the floor, his year's worth of collected dinnerware were completely destroyed, and all his furniture and knick knacks were damaged. His heart dropped the moment he saw all his earned possessions completely ruined. He wasn't angry at the person who had done it, but rather sad for the items that had been broken. It was almost as if he had lost a loved one. And now, he could only imagine how much money it would take to replace them all.

He turned to look for the girl who was behind the massacre in hopes of calming her down. He found Hinata frantically looking for an exit near the kitchen. Her arms were waving around in exasperation. She wasn't scared but infuriated over the surprise she was given today. Naruto could tell she had been searching a way out for awhile. She had red marks and small cuts all over her legs, she was panting like crazy, and her cheeks were red from her frustration.

"Calm down!" Naruto said as he darted towards Hinata. "It's okay! It's okay! You're fine!"

He gently placed his hands on both of her wrists, decreasing her chances of destroying anything else. The young girl tried to push him away as she whined loudly, but she had no success. She fell to the floor stubbornly, not caring if she would get hurt, and tried to crawl away. But the blonde refused to let her run off. He grabbed one of her legs, restraining her from fleeing, and slid towards her. He quickly grabbed one of her hands and placed his hand over it. He slid it up and down her palm in hopes of her remembering him. She stayed still in that moment, carrying an intense stare of thought. His hand wasn't enough for her to create a visual and soon enough she placed her hands on his face. Her fingers hastily outlined all the curves and edges of his features.

She recognized him. She knew who he was. But since he was neither her father nor her mother, she didn't care. She kicked him repeatedly, hitting him in the chest, shoulder, and face, as she ran off again.

"Ow.." Naruto slowly said at the surprising pain.

Hinata scurried down the hall and her arms desperately banged the walls in an effort to find a door. Naruto carefully avoided the pieces of glass scattered around the floor as he tried to reach her. The closer he got, the more worried he felt. If Hinata was this reluctant on the first day of living with him, he feared that they would never get anything done in the future. Once he reached her, he tried to calm her down. But once again, she wouldn't budge. Somehow she managed to find his room and instantly took it as an escape. The moment she stepped in she fell to the floor and crawled to the best hiding spot she could think of. In her head, she was very well hidden. Feeling the texture of a large cushion next to her and something sturdy behind her, she felt that it was enough to be unnoticeable. In reality, she wasn't hiding at all. Hinata was actually crawled up against the wall between a bean bag and Naruto's desk. Sure, it felt secure but she could easily be seen. Naruto couldn't help but chuckle when he saw her. He didn't want to invade her safe zone but he really needed to get her to feel comfortable with him.

"Hey there..." he whispered to himself as he crouched in front of her. "You're okay."

He placed his hands on her shoulders but was immediately rejected. She kicked him away and tried to run. But Naruto quickly grabbed onto her waist. She kicked and screamed, bit, and pulled hair, but Naruto continued to hold her down.

"Calm down," he kept saying. "Please Hinata, just calm down."

As nice as Naruto was, Hinata just wasn't willing to open up to him. Her frustration was bringing her to tears and Naruto was seeing it first hand. Her blind, gray eyes were starting to water and her rosy lips were beginning to quiver. She was scared. Naruto could easily tell.

"Don't cry," Naruto cooed, seeing the first tear drop slide off her face. "Its okay."

He wasn't sure if he could touch her, seeing that Hinata wasn't very fond of him. But he strongly felt the need to. He felt so bad for her. He really couldn't blame her for destroying his house. He could only imagine the amount of panic and confusion she was feeling right now. She had no idea where she was and where her parents were. How could he possibly be angered by her behavior? He'd be afraid too if he was deaf-blind.

"Hina—"

A loud gasp suddenly came out of the young girl's lips. She began to sob uncontrollably, slowly becoming smaller and smaller. She tried to push Naruto away but she became far too weak. It was evident that she was reaching exhaustion and was rapidly becoming distraught. She clutched onto her head tightly as if she was desperately holding onto her sanity.

" _Bleh…ooo…wah!_ " She cried. Tears began to stream down her face like rainfall as she continued her gibberish.

She was trying to talk.

That's how desperate she was to escape, to find her parents, to feel safe. She was crying out to the only people she cared about. Naruto just sat there speechless. He could practically feel her agony despite her lack of words. Again, he felt so horrible. Without a care in the world, he wiped the tears off her face and caressed her gently. For the first time, Hinata didn't fight back. Naruto gently caressed her hair in an effort to comfort her. He watched as she slowly loosened up to him. She placed her hand smack in the middle of his face, causing him to jerk a little, and her fingers began to slowly recreate his image. When she realized it was the same man from days ago and the man from three minutes ago, she began to relax a bit more.

And that's when it hit him.

He remembered how Hinata's mother had brought him a separate suitcase of things her daughter might have liked. It was quite possible that one of those items in that suitcase was something that belonged to her. Quickly Naruto grabbed Hinata's hand and placed her palm on the wooden floor.

"Stay here," he said as he made her repeatedly tap the floor.

He quickly got up and dashed towards the living room. Running off was probably not the smartest idea on Naruto's part. Being well aware that Hinata was deaf- blind, he should've known that her other remaining senses were obviously more enhanced. With that being said, Hinata's sense of touch was incredibly strong. The moment Naruto ran off she could feel the vibrations flowing through the wooden floors. And because she could feel the direction he was going, she followed him. By the time Naruto found the large, worn-out suitcase Hinata's mother had left him, she was already behind him.

Looking through the suitcase, Naruto found a nicely folded, gray cardigan. It was a very old cardigan made out wool. Pieces of string were already dangling out of the intricate pattern. He knew this piece of fabric didn't belong to Hinata but rather her mother. He knew this because Hinata's clothes were in a separate case. Knowing Hinata's sense of smell was stronger than the average human, Naruto felt that this cardigan would save his life. By allowing Hinata to touch and smell this item, he knew she would recognize who it belonged to. He had faith that somehow he could communicate with Hinata through this item. He had to earn her trust some way, and it had to be quick.

He folded the cardigan and tucked it under his arm with the mindset of heading towards his bedroom, but the second he turned around he found himself face to face with the young girl. He jumped when he saw her face only inches away from his. He wasn't expecting her to be behind him and for that reason he was slightly spooked. He gave her a stupid smile despite knowing she couldn't see him, and awkwardly sat beside her. Even though he was well aware that she was heavily impaired, he still didn't know how to act around her. He didn't know what would tick her off and what would calm her down yet. He also didn't know if she had realized that he was the same guy from KII and from minutes ago. And lastly, although her eyes had no sign of pupils, and her gray irises along with her pale skin made her look abnormally ghostly, she was still nonetheless beautiful. Naruto recognized Hinata was a beautiful girl even before he discovered she was impaired. And like any other pretty girl, Hinata made him nervous.

Carefully he approached her hand and held onto it. To his surprise, she didn't fight back. His quick thinking made him realize she had followed him through the feeling of his footsteps. This meant that she knew Naruto was the same man she was with in the bedroom. So, putting the facts together, Naruto assumed that she trusted him right now. He had to take advantage of that knowing how quick to change she was. After a while of hand holding silence Naruto placed both of Hinata's hands on her lap with her palms facing up. He slowly placed the cardigan over them and silently began to watch her reaction. The first thing she did was carefully run her hands all over the wool object. She took the time to let her fingers understand what she was holding onto. From the small spaces and bumps deep within the sewing pattern, to the feeling of every hair of the wool, she took it in all. From the look of her face, it seemed like she was getting an idea of who it belonged to. Following her sense of touch, she brought the cardigan up to her nose, and like a pup she began to sniff every inch of it. She inhaled the scent of the person who once wore the cardigan. And as soon as she identified the scent, her eyes lit up.

She dropped the cardigan and began to incoherently cry out to the person it belonged to. She appeared to be very happy when she found out it was her mother's, but she obviously still struggled to understand why she wasn't there. Seeing this, Naruto grabbed both Hinata's hand and the sleeve of the cardigan. He rubbed the sleeve on her hand slowly, placed it on the ground, and then led her hand to his face. He stretched out his free hand and placed his thumb on his chin.

" _Mom_ …" he signed. He made her feel the position of his hand and tapped his chin again. " _Mom_."

He then made her feel the cardigan for a quick second and brought her hand back to his face. Hinata clasped onto his hand as he kept signing mother. She traced his fingers and tapped his chin as she tried to understand what he was doing and what it meant. But unfortunately, she didn't understand it and wasn't really interested. She began to groan and try to pull her hand away but Naruto was determined to teach her.

He opened her hand up and brought her thumb to her chin, forcing her to imitate him.

 _"Mom.."_ He said to himself as he made her thumb tap her chin.

Back and forth he would make her sign and then touch the cardigan. Over and over Hinata had to repeat the same process. Cardigan, face, Cardigan, face. Just by looking at her face, it didn't seem like she was enjoying it.

Naruto wanted her to understand the cardigan was her mother's but the more he tried the more he saw it wasn't working.

He found himself wondering if his method was only leading her to confusion. He found himself thinking Hinata was misinterpreting his sign. Instead of her learning the sign for mother, perhaps she was thinking the sign meant cardigan. He didn't know how to tell her since she had no knowledge of any sign language, and was unable to hear or see his intentions. It was very difficult, very, very difficult.

One more time he attempted to make her sign, but by that point Hinata was already done. She shook her head away and got up. He tried to make her sit back down but she was no longer in the mood to. She began to move her arms around as she tried to navigate herself away from him. A faint sound of hunger grumbled through her stomach as she left. She didn't react to her stomach grumbling for she didn't make a sound when it happened.

"Are you hungry?" Naruto called out to her as he got up. "You want to eat?"

He quickly walked up to her and led her to the kitchen table. "Sit," he said as he lightly pushed her down on the chair. "Sit."

He carefully watched her as he slowly crept towards the kitchen. She remained still for the time he kept an eye on her, but he wasn't willing to take any chances. Quickly he scavenged around every cabinet and drawer for some utensils and food. Almost everything was shattered and broken, nothing he used to make food even worked anymore. He painfully peaked his head in the fridge mentally preparing himself to see emptiness. But fortunately it was the opposite. Hinata had not touched his fridge, everything was completely intact. The only problem was almost all his dinnerware and appliances were broken. His stove and microwave were cracked, his blender's container was shattered, his plates and bowls were nowhere to be found, and everything that still lived through Hinata's wrath was useless. Because of this, despite having food in the fridge, he couldn't make a meal. He couldn't even heat up a cup of ramen because he had no microwave.

"Damn," he said as he took a look at the mess again. He looked around the bottom cabinets one last time in hopes of finding at least one plate. He searched through his endless amount of expired garbage and miraculously found an old set of holiday plates. He immediately grabbed them and picked up various utensils off the floor.

"So," He said counting all the things he had in front of him. "You left me three plates, two bowls, and basically all my forks, spoons, and knives."

He went to his fridge and grabbed a bag of bread and a box of cream cheese. For the mean time, this is what they would have to eat, a cream cheese sandwich. As he walked back to the kitchen with all the things he needed, long behold Hinata was no longer there. He wasn't surprised. He placed his things on the wooden table and ran off to go look for her. She wasn't in the living room or his bathroom, so the only place left was his bedroom. He walked in thinking she would be on the floor like last time, but instead he found her lying on his bed. She was enjoying the comfort and softness of his bed, snuggling herself deep within the layers of his blankets. He couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of her twisting and turning. She was acting like a child and it secretly relieved him. Seeing her soft side gave him the confidence to try a bit harder, to try a bit harder to help her.

He went up to her and gently tapped her head. Immediately she jerked up, once again showing her defensive side. She rejected his hand quickly but then reached for it again. She leaned her body towards him and oddly enough began to sniff him. She sniffed his worn-out shirt for awhile and then sniffed the folds of his blue blanket. Both fabrics had a similar scent, a manly scent, similar to Hinata's father. They both smelled like sweat and a unique natural aroma. But unlike her father, this smell was its own person. Hinata in that moment understood that where she was laying belonged to the person in front of her. And to get a deeper connection, by tracing the hands of the person in front of her, she recognized he was the man she had been constantly seeing today.

It appeared to Naruto that Hinata was beginning to understand they were the only two people in the entire apartment. He squeezed her hand a little to see her reaction but she didn't do much. She just sat there silently. Naruto began to wonder what was going through her head. He nudged her a little in an effort to get her to the kitchen table. She slid forward a bit but was reluctant to leave the bed.

He struggled with her for a good five minutes. He folded his hand as if he was holding a piece of food and tapped it against his lips. "Eat," he said as he made one of Hinata's hand touch his lips and the other hold his signing hand. He tapped his signing hand against her lips while he attempted to pull her out of bed again. She didn't like that. Her eyebrows began to furrow and her hot-headed temper began to show up again.

"Come on," he sighed, feeling the stress of all his work flow onto him.

Naruto had all the patience in the world, so he wasn't losing his cool over Hinata. He just wanted her to eat because he knew she hadn't eaten since yesterday. The only thing he could think of at this point was to carry her. He knew she wasn't going to like it but he had to get her to the kitchen somehow. With all the strength in the world, he found the courage to lift her up and out of the bed. He placed her on her feet, but as expected she angrily fell to the floor. She yelled and screamed as Naruto bent down and pulled her up again. Quickly taking advantage of her tantrum, he carried her bridal style to the table.

By time they got there she was sniffing and had tears streaming down her face. The blonde treated her like a fragile porcelain doll as he lightly wiped her tears away. He pinched her cheeks softly as he tried to cheer her up. His gentle character made Hinata relax a little, but she was still a bit stiffened.

Naruto scooted his chair beside her and brought all the items he had on the table forward. He took a piece a bread out of a plastic bag and placed it on one of the snowman-shaped plates. Before he gave it to her he grabbed one of her hands and a knife. He let her feel the knife as he carefully watched her movements. Her fingers slid up and down the cold steel blade and ever so slowly ran the tip of her index finger on the sharp side of the knife. She recreated the bumps, edges, and corners of the utensil all in her head. Naruto could see how fascinated she was this item. It was possible that her parents never allowed her to get close to anything sharp. And to be fair, it was completely understandable when you saw her condition.

Once Naruto felt Hinata was finished inspecting the silver knife. He then made her place it down. He grabbed both of her hands and made both of her index fingers rub against each other as if she was cutting something.

"Knife," he told her as he kept making her rub her fingers.

He made her hold the handle of the knife again while he slid the plate with bread in front of her. Gently he covered her hand with his and they both simultaneously cut the bread in half. The blonde took pauses in between cutting the piece of French bread. Between the breaks he would make Hinata sign 'knife' again.

"Knife," He'd tell her as she rubbed her fingers together. He then would make her tap the knife, and then they both would continue to cut the bread. For the first time today, he saw Hinata smile. He saw for the first time her eyes lit up. Once they both finished slicing the bread in half, Hinata began to rub her two fingers on her own.

When Naruto saw this his mouth instantly dropped. "Yes! Yes!" He said excitedly, not caring if she couldn't hear him. "Knife!"

As stupid as it was to overjoy himself over a girl signing the word knife, Naruto was so happy. He could officially mark off one word out of a billion on his list. That was something he had to feel proud of.

"This is good," he smiled. "We're getting somewhere."

He opened the box of cream cheese and spread it on both slices of bread. He brought one of them to Hinata's lips and unsurprisingly she began to sniff it. It took her awhile to take her first bite, but when she did she seemed happy with it. She opened her mouth a second time so Naruto could feed her again. This time she took a big bite.

"You like it, huh," Naruto chuckled. He let her hold the piece of food in her hands as he made one for himself. Their little brunch wasn't as silent as he thought it would be. Naruto discovered that Hinata smacked her lips when she ate. She didn't eat with her mouth completely open, she just somehow made noises when she chewed. It was quite funny and adorable when he saw it. He began to admire the beauty of the girl in front of him. Her crying had made her eyes puff and her nose and cheeks red. Any other girl would look tired and ugly after shedding the amount of tears she had, but Hinata had the most angelic look on her face it almost looked too holy. Ugly was impossible to describe her in that moment. Naruto continued to eat his sandwich in a zombie-like way as he continued to stare at her.

 _She's really something…_

Suddenly Hinata began to moan. Her hands began to search around for Naruto. The blonde reached and tapped one of her hands to let her know he was still there. She followed the direction of his hand and then searched for his face. When she found it, she placed a piece of bread against his lips. Naruto was stunned by her actions. He wasn't expecting it at all. His heart suddenly remembered how to feel nervous and started to beat fast. The brunette lightly pushed the piece of bread on his lips when he didn't open.

"Sorry," he said as he stupidly opened his mouth.

And with that, the young girl shoved the piece of bread inside it. She giggled when she felt his cheeks move as he chewed the wheat slowly. Once he was done she opened her mouth so he could return the favor.

"Okay," the blonde said as he placed a small piece of bread on her her tongue. Here you go," he laughed.

* * *

Naruto decided to go Ichiraku; Naruto decided to go to Ichiraku not because he was hungry, but because he had to do some begging. He brought Hinata along with him in fear that she would do more damage to his house. Although he didn't hate Hinata, he didn't want to walk inside the Ramen shop with her. Knowing how sensitive she was to strangers, he didn't want his extroverted, pink-haired friend to trigger Hinata's temper. With that being said, the blonde only peaked half of his body inside the stand once he reached it, while the other half hid Hinata.

He saw his pink-haired friend sitting on one of the red stools of Ichiraku. She had a painfully bored expression as she read a large, thick book half attentively.

"Hey, Sakura," Naruto said from the far corner. "Are you busy?"

The young girl was slow to respond due to her exhaustion. She lazily closed the book in front of her and sighed "Not at the moment," she mumbled, not even bothering to look at him. "Do you need something?"

"Yea, but it looks like your busy."

The girl slowly turned her head to look at him, revealing the dark circles beneath her eyes. "Did you go to school today?" She asked changing the subject.

"No," Naruto shook. "Did you?" He asked as he pointed to her noticeable bags.

"No, I've been studying...since yesterday"

Naruto awkwardly nodded not knowing what to say. "You've been studying all day _and_ working?"

"Yes," She said closing her eyes. "And I'm exhausted!"

She through her hands in the air and dramatically looked up to the ceiling. "Teuchi isn't here so it's been me and Ayame all day."

She pointed to the long-haired brunette who was hastily cooking tanks of ramen noodles. Naruto couldn't tell who looked more stressed out. Sakura had her face practically sliding off while the other girl was sweaty and frizzed up due to all her running. They both just looked awful.

"Where's Teuchi," Naruto asked still standing at the entrance.

"I don't know."

"Do you at least know when he's coming back?"

She shrugged.

They didn't say anything after. Sakura yawned loudly as he she stretched out her back. Naruto just kept himself distant from the two working girls. "Ayame!" Sakura yelled to the anxious girl. "Can you pass me a bottle of beer!"

The girl hiding deep within the kitchen rolled her eyes.

"Are you serious?" Naruto asked before the other girl could do the same. "It's like 11 in the afternoon."

"So?" Sakura shrugged showing no concern.

"You'll be drunk on the job? Come on Sakura, that won't please the customers."

The girl sighed a second time. "Well, do you have any other suggestions to wake me up?"

Ayame secretly begged the blonde to think of something. Naruto discreetly winked back. "I do actually, "he nodded.

And he really did.

He had come to ask Sakura for money. He had come to Ichiraku to _beg_ Sakura for money. And knowing Sakura, this little favor was going to wake her up quick. She wasn't one to give out stacks of money to everyone she met. She never gave out anything without a story, a really _good_ story. Naruto knew this well. He knew this because he always struggled to get at least a coin out of her. Today would be no different.

"I got a favor to ask," he said scratching the back of his head. "I don't have a job and school's getting rough on work, plus I have a girl I'm teaching. I was wondering if you could—"

"I hope you're gonna ask me to find me you a job." She interrupted him. "Because I'm not—"

"That too," Naruto nodded. "I'd like to find a job too, but I also need…y'know…"

Naruto once again, awkwardly looked back at the green-eyed girl. Just by the look at her face, he knew she wasn't happy. He felt his heart be fast not knowing if he should continue. How else could he word the idea of wanting money without sounding like a prick? He bit his lips as he swarmed through his thoughts desperately trying to find a smooth way to ask her.

"Naruto, come on spit. What do you want?" Sakura waved at him to speed up.

He took a deep breath and sighed. His blue eye's nervously looked back her green ones. "Can I…borrow…some money?"

"No," Sakura quickly shook.

"But Sakura!"

"Get a job and work for your own money, Naruto. I'm not going to maintain you." She said as she waved towards Ayame to give her a bottle of Sake again.

"Sakura, you don't understand," Naruto begged. "It's urgent. Something happened today and I really need the money!"

"What happened?" Sakura asked in an uninterested tone.

"My house was completely trashed and my money can't cover it all, Sakura."

"Who did it?" Sakura said raising a brow. "Did you call the cops?"

"No—Sakura, you don't understand. The girl—a girl I'm helping did it."

"What?!" Sakura said whipping her head back at him. "So what if your helping her? She shouldn't do that."

"Sakura, she's impaired. She doesn't know what she's doing," Naruto said shaking his head.

"Okay," Sakura sighed coming to the realization she was talking to Naruto. A man who never saw flaws in any human. "How much do you need?'

Naruto gave her a sheepish smile. He ran his fingers through his hair as he prepared himself for her raging attitude. "How much do pay for rent?"

"Naruto! Are you crazy!" Sakura slightly yelled practically jumping out of her seat. She tried to calm herself down as she mentally recollected all her patience. "Could you at least walk in here and sit down next to me instead of hiding like a coward."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because the girl who destroyed my apartment is outside."

He lightly tugged on Hinata's arm motioning her to come inside. The drapes that covered the entrance of the restaurant startled her at first but eventually she entered and stood beside him.

Sakura's eyes widen when she saw the girl.

"Before you start scolding her, Sakura, She's deaf-blind, okay? She doesn't know what she's doing," Naruto warned her. "She's the girl I was talking about the last time I talked to you here. She's living with me now."

This time Sakura did jump off her seat. "Oh her!" she said remembering the conversation they had nights ago. Her attitude suddenly completely changed. She became much happier to see her and even offered to give her a free bowl. "She's so pretty," she said running up towards the still girl. She was just about to touch her shoulder when Naruto quickly slapped her hand away. "Don't touch her!" He warned her. "She will go nuts if you do!"

"Really? But she seems so serene."

"That's what I thought too," Naruto breathily laughed. "But now I know...if she doesn't know you, she doesn't like you. Period."

Sakura stood in front of the girl in awe. Her gray, beautiful eyes were so unique and her skin was so clear it gave her some jealousy. "Wow," Sakura said still amazed. "She can't hear or see, huh? How does she learn?"

"It's a work in progress," Naruto sighed as he remembered his terribly long morning. "But we're getting there."

"Really?" Sakura said in fascination. "Does she know how to do anything?

"Well," Naruto said as he looked up at the ceiling. "No, not really. To be honest, I don't even think she knows how to properly eat."

"Will you teach her?"

The boy just shrugged. "I guess."

Sakura then took a good look at the blonde and then the girl beside him. She thought and thought, and mentally groaned at the idea of giving in. She didn't like to just hand over her money out to people, but seeing Naruto and his new bipolar student, she just had to help. She sighed at her kindness but shook it off when she straightened herself up.

"300 bucks that's all I'm giving you. Invest on it." She said crossing her arms.

The blonde boy's eyes beamed in pure joy. A weight off his shoulders was safely taken off by Sakura's offering. "That'll do I swear."

"Yea, it better." She said looking back at him. "Also another thing, I want to stop by your house often now."

That startled Naruto.

"What, why?"

"Naruto she's a girl," Sakura pointed. "She's walking around the town in a nightgown and her hair's not even brushed!"

That was true. Naruto left her the way they brought her to him. He was too embarrassed to change her and he didn't know much about women's fashion at all. He figured he would just leave her like that since changing would be an evident challenge. "She needs me." Sakura whispered.

Naruto honestly didn't like the idea. Hinata didn't like knew people, he saw that today and in KII. She was surely going to go mad over Sakura too. He wanted to say no just because of that, but he couldn't. Sakura was giving him the cash he needed, the least he could do was bring her to his crappy apartment.

With great pain he agreed. "Fine, but you'll have to come tonight."

The pinkette nodded.


End file.
